Learning more about myself through fitness and healthy living

Menu

Tag Archives: one pot meal

I have become mildly obsessed with my spiralizer. I’ve used it to make several things, but I think my favorite creation is “zoodles” aka zucchini noodles. They are so easy! Plus they are a delicious and healthy alternative to standard noodles. If you are like me and looking for way to cut out more of those tempting carbs, this is a fantastic option. It’s not quite like noodles but the texture and feel when eating them is very similar, plus you get the added benefit of tasty zucchini. My husband loves it and asks me to make it, which is honestly the biggest compliment I can give the dish as he tends to be pickier and slightly more wary of “weird” foods than I am. This is my version of one way a coworker told me she likes to make zoodles. I make it as a one pot meal, but if you want to be fancy about it you could brown the meat separate from the vegetables. I just like an easy meal – I’ve made it both as a one pot and browning them separately and honestly there is little difference. So in the spirit of keeping healthy options simple, here is a step by step one pot option. This will serve roughly 4 people. (Although I like to make it as dinner for 2 then reheat it for lunch for the next few days. Your call)

I like a super thin zoodle, so if you have multiple settings I recommend the smallest cut. Here you can see it collect at the bottom of the spiralizer:

I cut the ends off the zucchini so they are flat, then I halve them so they fit easily into the spiralizer.

I spiralize all the zucchini and put that aside. I chop the onion and the bell peppers, also putting that to the side. Finally, I slice the sausage.

Once I have all the ingredients cut and ready, I put a pot on the stove and spray it with my coconut oil (If you are using standard oil, just pour in about a tablespoon or more into the pot and swirl to coat). I then add the chopped onion and peppers and cook them for about 5 minutes on medium high heat until they start to become translucent. At that point, I add the minced garlic and the sliced sausage.

I continue to cook at medium high heat for about 5 more minutes. I usually end up turning the heat up high and brown it for another couple of minutes – be careful to keep an eye on it so nothing burns, and you just get nice browned edges on your onions and sausage.

Once the mixture is browned to your liking, turn the temperature back down around medium or medium high and add the zoodles. Stir those in with the browned meat and veggies. The zoodles warm and cook pretty quickly – within 3-5 minutes. Zucchini tends to sweat out a lot of moisture as it cooks, so make sure you keep stirring this while it’s on the stove to coat.

That’s it. It’s really easy – basically the only time consuming part is chopping veggies and spiralizing which really takes no time.

You might want to add other vegetables to this, or a different meat, or no meat at all — really the sky is the limit. I personally feel like there is a lot of moisture produced by the zucchini so I don’t think a sauce is necessary. For me, the moisture mixing with the flavors of whatever else you have in there, which then coats the zucchini noodles is more than enough. But feel free to play with this! If you try something different and want to share, please feel free to leave a comment, I’d enjoy learning other things that folks love with these tasty vegetable noodles.